Set a Festive Tone for a Christmas Wedding

Take advantage of sales. Collect items during after-Christmas and after-Thanksgiving sales. A lot of merchandise at craft and department stores is significantly marked down, and if you arrive early, there is usually a lot to choose from.

Think outside the box. Red and green are great Christmas wedding colors, but so are plum and silver, or varied shades of blue, or basic silver and gold.

Use poinsettias for a lot of decoration. They're less expensive than many flowers, and if you get married at Christmas time, they're readily available. (Otherwise, use plastic plants or stems you buy at Christmas.) Roses, holly berries, ivy and pine are good complements. Queen Anne's Lace resembles snowflakes, if you get married when it's available.

Use wreaths or swags of greenery for pew decorations. If you use candles with them, buy artificial, fire-resistant greenery. Use different colored bows to designate reserved sections or light some wreaths with Christmas lights.

Decorate heavily with candles, lights and luminaries. All are cheap and readily available - and very festive. Line the aisle with luminaries. Put candles on the tables. Have people carry candles. Line the alter with candles. Outline doorways with lights. One caution: beware wires. Use battery-operated lights or be diligent about taping down wires so no one trips. Also, use lights, not candles, in luminaries because with so many people, they can easily be bumped, and with real candles, that's a major fire hazard.

Hang plastic or glass icicles securely from doorways or arches. Or hang them on the edge of food tables or from the edge of pews. Plastic or glass snowflakes also work well.

Play Christmas music in the background to set the mood, both before and after the wedding and during the reception, before the DJ starts. Choose instrumental numbers that allow people to continue talking and enjoying the atmosphere.

Use scented candles as people enter the church to make it feel like Christmas. Choose scents of cookies baking, spices, pine scents, or vanilla. Place candles where they won't be disturbed or blown out easily, and assign someone to monitor them from time to time - including blowing them out when you leave. Limit scented candles to the church; strong scents at the reception would interfere with the smells and tastes of the food.

Decorate large spaces at once by covering doors with wrapping paper and a large bow to look like a gift. Just be sure to check with the person in charge of the venue to make sure such decorations don't interfere with fire codes.

For centerpieces, use candles on mirrors (the mirrors reflect the light) with fake snow or fake ice sprinkled around. Hurricane candles work really well in venues that don't allow open flames. Again, avoid scents; find unscented candles.

Another idea for centerpieces is to put plates of Christmas-shaped sugar cookies on each table, along with a bowl of icing and dishes of Christmas candy to decorate the cookies with. Or scatter Christmas-wrapped candy over the table for people to munch on.

Find a cake topper that says Christmas. Be it a couple in the snow or ice skating, a small Christmas tree, or a photo of the two of you in Christmas garb, it's the perfect accent to a Christmas-y cake..

When the officiate pronounces you man and wife and says you may kiss, hold a sprig of mistletoe above your heads, or have the officiate or best man do it.

When guests arrive at the reception site bearing gifts, have them place the presents under a fully decorated Christmas tree, rather than on a table.

Order a cake shaped like a stack of Christmas gifts. This trend is actually very common, even with couples not marrying at Christmas. Have your baker, rather than decorating the confection to look like wedding gifts, decorate it to look like Christmas gifts.

Order a Christmas-themed cake from the inside out. Order a spice cake, a fruit cake, or even a red velvet cake.

Have an all-dessert reception and showcase your families' greatest holiday recipes. Nothing says Christmas like overdoing the sweets. Offer some salty options, as well, such as chocolate-covered pretzels or some bland bread options.

Along with coffee, serve spiced apple cider and hot chocolate, or send guests off with a mug of it at the end of the night.

As you, the newlyweds, ride off into the night, have guests fill the air with the ringing of bells. The bells could double as Christmas ornaments that guests can take home when they leave.

Have guests throw fake snow - or real snow, if you know there will be plenty available - as you leave. If you use fake snow, do so indoors or in a place that's easy to clean so it doesn't stay and harm the environment.